Google brings Bard to Nigeria with new AI features

Business a.m

In a global push to expand its conversational AI capabilities, Google has announced that its Bard chatbot ,powered by the Gemini Pro model is now  available in Nigeria starting from February 1, 2024. The launch is part of Google’s larger plan to bring the chatbot to a global audience and expand its reach to compete with the likes of ChatGPT and other conversational AI systems. 

According to the multinational tech company, the new innovation  includes expanded features for fact-checking Bard’s responses via the “G” icon and introduces text-to-image generation, leveraging Gemini’s multimodal capabilities to generate photorealistic visuals based on textual descriptions, offering users an innovative creative tool.

In December 2023, Google released its new generative AI models, including the flagship Gemini Ultra, the lightweight Gemini Pro, and the tiny Gemini Nano, all of which are available in English. Additionally, Google updated its conversational AI chatbot, Bard, with the Gemini Pro model, making it one of the most advanced language models for conversations.

The Large Model Systems Organization, a research group that evaluates language models and chatbots, has ranked Bard with Gemini Pro as one of the top chatbots available, both free and paid. The organisation also noted that Bard’s performance has improved by leaps and bounds, thanks to the inclusion of the Gemini Pro model.

With the new update, Google said Bard users can now generate images with the AI tool in English in most countries around the world, at no cost.

The tech giant stated: “Since we know people want the ability to corroborate Bard’s responses, we’re also expanding our double-check feature, which is already used by millions of people in English, to more than 40 languages.

When you click on the “G” icon, Bard will evaluate whether there is content across the web to substantiate its response. If it can be evaluated, you can click the highlighted phrases and learn more about supporting or contradicting information found by Search.”

Google also announced a new feature in its Bard chatbot that allows users to generate images in English, at no cost. This feature is made possible by the company’s updated Imagen 2 model, which is designed to balance quality and speed. The Imagen 2 model is capable of generating high-quality, photorealistic images in a fraction of the time it takes other models. This makes it an ideal tool for generating images on the fly, whether for creative or practical purposes. With this feature, Google is expanding the creative possibilities of its chatbot and making it even more useful for users.